​The ‘Apple’ of Bihar’s Eyes: CNN-News18’s Exclusive Report Yields Results, Gets Minister’s Attention

In March 2022, Horticulture department of Bihar distributed saplings of HRMN 99, a variety of apple developed by Hariman Sharma from Himachal Pradesh with the scientists of Gujarat University, which is fit for cultivation in sub-tropical and low altitude plains even at a temperature of 40°Celsius. As part of the pilot project, 650 saplings per 9 hectares, a total of around 6,000 saplings, were planted in seven districts of Vaishali, Begusarai, Bhagalpur, Aurangabad, Samastipur, Katihar and Muzaffarpur, after giving formal training to selected farmers. The state gave a huge subsidy to farmers for cultivation, costing Rs 100 or so per plant. Moreover, water sprinkler drip system funded by Prime Minister Agricultural Irrigation Scheme proved to be a boon.

Cut to 2023. According to the agriculture department, the project is a success with encouraging results from all districts and ready to be harvested in July-August.

CNN-News18 visited one of the farms in Vaishali’s Hajipur, which looked like an apple garden in Himachal, only in a tropical area. The farmer, too, had high morale, with hopes for profits in the future.

Farmer Krishna Ballabh Singh said: “The horticulture department gave us the opportunity to cultivate the fruit last year and I am extremely happy to see the fruits on trees. We are hopeful that in the coming years, we will be able to yield apples in Bihar. I want to thank the PM Sichayi Yojana, under which we got water sprinklers, which is proving to be a boon for the plants. We got huge subsidy under the scheme. After seeing the fruit-laden trees, I hope that people of Bihar will eat apples grown in the state.”

Om Prakash Sharma, District Horticulture Officer of Vaishali, said, “In all seven districts, we are seeing a good yield. This was the first year of the pilot project and after seeing the success we are planning large-scale cultivation in other districts as well. The fruit, since it is growing in tough conditions, will definitely have more nutritional value, although the shine won’t match the apples of Kashmir. This is a high quality variety, fit for the climate of Bihar.”

‘HIGH IMPORTANCE’

Although this pilot project was started by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister last year, the present Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) minister seemed equally positive about the cultivation and has promised to keep the project in high importance.

Kumar Sarvjeet, Agriculture Minister of Bihar, while speaking exclusively to CNN-News18, said, “Agriculture is a very vast subject to work upon. I was focussing on lemon grass and tea cultivation. I am also surprised to see the apples growing in such hot weather. If you say that it is proving to be a successful experiment, I will certainly monitor it myself. I am working for the welfare of farmers and I will do whatever I can if it brings profits to them. And why only apples, even oranges are grown in Nagpur’s hot weather. I will ask the scientists to see whether oranges could also be grown in Bihar.”

After CNN-News18 report, the Minister took feedback from the scientists working on apple cultivation. He promised to visit the districts where apple cultivation is being done, take feedback from farmers and if everything goes well, large-scale production will start in Bihar, Sarvjeet said.